A rather angry Ollie Bearman tore into Yuki Tsunoda following the F1 US GP after a close shave on lap 34 nearly led to both of them crashing out.
On softs, the British driver had better pace than his Japanese rival in the opening part of the second stint. As he looked to make a move into turn 15 for 7th, a small jink to the left from the Red Bull driver saw Bearman end up on the dirt and he spun.
Along with that failed attempt to pass, Nico Hülkenberg used DRS on the main straight to take P8 away as the Haas driver had no battery left. 9th was the end result for the 20-year-old.
Ollie Bearman lets rip at Yuki Tsunoda following the F1 US GP
Speaking in the print media zone after the race, Ollie Bearman explained his frustration with Yuki Tsunoda and his defensive tactics, believing the 25-year-old is setting a bad example. He also discussed how he felt the Japanese driver was already swerving in the laps before the big incident occurred.
“Regarding the incident with Yuki, I felt like what he did was quite dangerous against the spirit of how we should go racing and against the image that we should project to kids growing up and karting and stuff. This is not the way we go racing.
“He was swerving all over the place for a few laps and when I finally did stick my nose in and attempted to move, he moved in reaction, didn’t leave a car’s width of track and that’s unfair. That’s not allowed and that caused me to avoid.
“It could have caused a huge crash honestly without my quick avoidance, so it’s a big shame.”
Ollie Bearman feels Yuki Tsunoda was driving like a desperate man during F1 US GP weekend
Along with further complaints about what Tsunoda did to him, Bearman added how he felt the Red Bull man was over the limit throughout the weekend.
A huge send down the inside at turn 1 in the Sprint saw Tsunoda clip the back of Hadjar. Nonetheless, it did work out for him as he gained 11 spots on the wild opening lap.
In the Grand Prix, he lunged down the inside of Bearman on lap 3 in the same corner for P9 at the time. While the Brit was unhappy, it looked a clean move.
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be allowed, although maybe it’s in a grey area of the regulations, but moving in the braking zone is not fair. It’s dangerous and it causes big crashes like this, we’ve seen it numerous times.
“But I’ve also seen the way Yuki’s been driving this weekend. In the Sprint race, he sent it up the inside into Turn 1 and took out his sister car.
“In the main race he did the same thing in Turn 1 again, so I feel like he’s driving maybe a little bit desperate and that was shown in his defence today.”
Yuki Tsunoda has a general problem believes Ollie Bearman
Not finished with his criticism following the F1 US GP, Ollie Bearman was left bewildered by Yuki Tsunoda trying to defend against Charles Leclerc on 22-lap older tyres on the lap the driver of car #22 would box. The Brit was around 2s behind at that time and had a good view of it.
“No [this is the first incident I’ve had with him], but I feel like he has this issue with other drivers. He was fighting against Charles who is not even in the race with him. Why are you defending from him? It just seems silly what he’s doing.
“He’s just not thinking forward. Silly driving in my opinion.”
Finally, Bearman will not talk to Tsunoda about the events of Sunday.
“No, because I don’t think he will change.”
Yuki Tsunoda responds to Ollie Bearman and his barrage of criticism after F1 US GP
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Yuki Tsunoda responded to the Haas driver after his comments of moving under braking got put to the Japanese driver. Unsurprisingly, he denied it.
The 25-year-old believes it was a shame it happened as they were having a good battle until then.
“I don’t think I moved under the braking.
“And yeah, it’s just a bit unfortunate how we ended up in that race like that. I think especially we were having a good fight until then.
“So yeah, that’s it.”
On the topic of Bearman talking about his aggressiveness into turn 1 in the Sprint and with his move on the Brit, Tsunoda was not concerned and says he is here to race.
“That’s the racing, right? I mean, I did feel I was fully in control. I didn’t have any lock-ups and I was literally side-by-side there.
“I’m not his teammate. I’m just fighting for being in the top 10 or top 10 or more.
“So yeah, I thought it was OK.”
In the end, Yuki Tsunoda finished in P7, 52s off race winner and teammate Max Verstappen. The gap to George Russell in P6 was 19s when the chequered flag fell.
